Michigan State quarterback Andrew Maxwell was forced to earn his position throughout the offseason and will start against Western Michigan at 8 p.m. on Friday night at Spartan Stadium.Mike Griffith | MLive.com

EAST LANSING — Andrew Maxwell heard the critics, the doubters and even the message from his head coach that his best wasn't good enough to be named a starter in spring and most of fall drills.

But the fifth-year senior quarterback never let it break him down.

If anything, it gave him even more resolve.

That attitude and approach paid off on Tuesday morning, when he said Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio told him he would be the starter for the Spartans' season-opening game at 8 p.m. on Friday against Western Michigan in Spartan Stadium (TV: Big Ten Network).

"I don't know if I ever sat down and said, 'wow I'm not going to be starting on the 30th,'" Maxwell said. "You have to keep pushing and keep confidence in yourself, because as soon as you start to have those sort of thoughts creep into your mind, subconsciously, maybe you start to wave the white flag, and that was something I wouldn't allow myself to do.''

Maxwell said the intense competition and live contact served to strengthen his game.

"All it did was make me better and make the team better,'' Maxwell said. "Every day, you don't have the luxury of coming out and not bringing everything you have. When you have two or three guys ready to jump in line with you, if you come out and don't bring enthusiasm or focus, there's two or three guys ready to take your spot. That helped me bring it every day.''

Maxwell conceded his edge in experience does make a difference and give him an advantage over his competition, redshirt sophomore Connor Cook, redshirt freshman Tyler O'Connor and true freshman Damion Terry.

Dantonio has said throughout the offseason he will play two quarterbacks in games for an indeterminable amount of time, and Cook confirmed he has been told he will play in the first half against the Broncos.

"Things are caught more than they're taught — there are things that aren't maybe taught in the meeting room, but you catch on and learn from having been through them before,'' Maxwell said. "I've made mistakes before in my career that I can look back on and I can diagnose them quicker.

"Coverages, blitzes, tendencies from fronts, these are all things that are easy to spot on a piece of paper, but until you're out on the field and see it, they can be hard to pick up.''

Maxwell said he does want the Michigan State fans to be happy he is their quarterback, but it's not his biggest priority.

"I think, certainly, our goal is to please fans,'' Maxwell said. "But my main goal isn't to please fans; my main goal is to please this team and coaching staff with how I play the quarterback position.

"The main goal of the QB position and this offense is to move the football and put points on the board.''

And now, Maxwell said, it's time for the team and the fan base to move on.

"The biggest relief (of the quarterback decision being made) is we can put it past us and focus on the game, (because) three days out from the game we want our entire focus to be on Western Michigan,'' he said. "We want our focus to be on the task at hand, what do we have to do to get a win. The main goal is not to decide a starting quarterback.